


Because I Want To

by SelenaTerna



Series: Random Doctor Who Ficlets [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Valentine's Day, tiny smidge of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 08:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9985610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenaTerna/pseuds/SelenaTerna
Summary: The Doctor and Rose inadvertently land on Valentine’s Day. A very interesting discussion follows…





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my (almost late) response to theTime Petals monthly prompt “Doctor x Rose- Valentine’s Day’ on Tumblr. So this didn’t turn out the way I expected at all…soooo…sorry about that. The Doctor and Rose made me do it! This isn’t meant to be anti (or pro) Valentine’s Day or judge anyone for what they do/don’t celebrate,…it’s just what sort of wrote itself, really. I hope you like it, despite its somewhat odd direction. This work has already been published in my usual 'Time Petals Prompts' work, however because it's a bit longer, I thought it deserved it's own little place as well. As always, come say hi at http://countessselena.tumblr.com/.
> 
> Trigger Warning: Single, non-explicit reference to domestic violence.

“Oh, bloody hell!” The Doctor groaned when the first thing he saw outside the TARDIS doors was a busy London street covered in a plethora of hearts and flowers.

For once, they had actually landed in the right time and place- the fourteenth of February, 2023. This was where the TARDIS had tracked the Spelitian anomaly to, and it was where they needed to go. Only, he’d forgotten that the fourteenth of February was a designated day of irritation and sappiness amongst humans for the next several centuries.

“Valentine’s Day,” he muttered in exasperation.

“What?” Rose poked her head out of the TARDIS and he resigned himself to dealing with a cooing, sighing companion for the day. Humans always made such a huge fuss about the day, especially humans of Rose’s time.

However, her reaction was far from what he expected.

She _groaned_.

“All the bloody days of the year and we had to land on bleedin’ Valentine’s Day? We’ll never get anywhere near Harrods, now.” She glared at a billboard advertisement for a local florist. “Are you sure that’s when it landed, Doctor?”

He blinked in surprise at her exasperated tone. “Yeah. The TARDIS tracked it right to the jewellery department in Harrods, today.”

Rose groaned again. “Oh, that’s just great! We’re stuck tryin’ to find some mysterious alien whatsit in the jewellery department on bleedin’ _Valentine’s Day_.” She sighed loudly. “How the hell are we goin’ to find it now?”

“We’ll look for unusual activity,” he said slowly, still not sure what to make of her reaction. “’S what we always do, innit?”

Rose looked at him pityingly. “Unusual activity? At Harrods? On _Valentine’s Day_? Doctor, we’ll be lucky to get near the place at all, an’ even if we do, it’ll be filled with desperate blokes tryin’ to grab somethin’ last minute because they forgot it was Valentine’s Day.” She rolled her eyes. “Couldn’ pick a worse time to try to look for ‘unusual behaviour’. Today, _everyone’s_ a bleedin’ alien.”

The Doctor frowned in confusion. He’d never thought about it before, but really, he’d have thought that Rose would be like the rest of the humans of her time, sighing over the wretched holiday- and here she was practically scowling at the thought.

What was that about?

“Rose,” he said slowly. “Is there something wrong?”

She stared at him in disbelief. “Doctor, do you know what the shops are like on this bloody day? And we’ve got to find this Spelitian whatsit in the middle of a crowd of nutters! In the _jewellery_ department, Doctor. The _jewellery department!”_

“I know!” He raised his hands placatingly. “Not deaf, me. Heard you the first time. We can wait for closin’ time- s’only half an hour and the anomaly seems to be stable. What I mean is, I’m surprised you’re not flappin’ about like the rest of them. I thought Valentine’s Day was supposed to be nigh on sacred in your time.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Yeah, maybe for some, Doctor.”

He tilted his head. “Why not you, then?”

She shrugged and started walking towards Knightsbridge, evidently deciding it was time to get going. “ ‘S just big business, innit? Just another day where the shops make a mint. Pisses me right off.”

“You don’t think it’s romantic, then?” he queried, loping along beside her.

“What’s romantic about someone doin’ somethin’ just because the calendar tells ‘em they have to?” She scoffed. “’S like apologisin’ because someone’s makin’ you- doesn’t mean anything.”

Interesting, he mused to himself. Most humans of her time were almost religious about the day and Rose seemed to be the opposite. He wondered why.

“So you don’t think it’s romantic to buy flowers or some such for a loved one?”

She shrugged as they turned down a back alley shortcut. “’’S not that, ‘s the day itself. Look, ‘m sure there’re some people that really mean it- but there’s also lots of people who won’t buy flowers any other day of the year, or…or do nice things or remember important dates or go out for dinner or whatever. If you really want to be romantic, you don’t need to wait for one day a year when the shops tell you to do it, yeah? Should want to do it yourself. An’ more than once a year. An’ it should be something that _means_ something to that person, not just buyin’ heart shaped chocolates or roses.”

“You’re seriously tellin’ me that you’ve not been a little flattered when some bloke has given you flowers?” He found that somewhat difficult to believe. And a beautiful girl like Rose had to have had lines of blokes wanting to romance her.

She gave him an assessing look. “Not much of that on the Estate, Doctor- least, not for me. Jimmy was drunk off his face, most of the time, and when he wasn’t, I wished he was.” She stared grimly ahead, not seeing the thunderous expression on his face at what she was suggesting. “An’ Mickey- well, I was lucky if he remembered my birthday. When he did, it was usually a match at the pub or him coppin’ a feel between commercial breaks.”

He felt a flare of anger at the thought of Rickey the idiot putting his hands on her (to say nothing of the thought of that other wanker hurting her) and ruthlessly squashed it down. Rose wasn’t his, and she’d likely be horrified at the thought of a centuries old alien pining after her. And she’d definitely be horrified if he went around punishing drunken arseholes who hurt women. More specifically, arseholes who’d hurt _Rose_.

No, he wouldn’t do that. No matter how much Stone deserved it. He’d let it go ( _for now_ , he told himself grimly) and he wouldn’t ask questions. It was obvious Rose didn’t want to talk about it and he’d not hurt her by pushing.

He forced himself to calm down and reply matter-of-factly.

“See, that’s what I mean. You’re tellin’ me that after Rickey the Idiot and his unique brand of romance, you wouldn’t be happy if some bloke bought you flowers or jewels or sommat?”

Her face relaxed slightly and she snorted depreciatingly. “Yeah, I’ll let you know when it happens, Doctor.”

Her tone showed how unlikely she thought that would be, and it bothered him.

“Why d’you think it’s so unlikely?” He wanted to know.

She rolled her eyes. “Why does it matter so much? Bit domestic for you, innit?" 

“I’m just curious! Always been curious about human customs, me.” He flashed her a manic grin to convince her that it was just idle curiosity.

She snorted again. “Yeah, well, there’s a human custom that says blokes don’t give flowers and jewels to chavs on council estates.”

He frowned. That may have been the way it worked, but it didn’t mean that was how it _should_ work. “Don’t know that I agree with that.”

She shrugged. “’S the way it is. Blokes on the Estate don’t do sweet and romantic an’ we know better than to expect it. An’ blokes off the Estate don’t usually come after us unless they want a shag or a bit on the side, ‘n I’ve never been interested in that.”

“So you’re sayin’ that even if some bloke _did_ give you flowers, you’d think he was just tryin’ to get into your knickers.” That bothered him. Not that he had any intention of following ridiculous human mating rituals- but still, it bothered him.

“S’pose so, yeah.” She tilted her head to the side. “But I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“Oh? Why’s that, then?”

She smiled at him then- a genuine, Rose Tyler smile with a touch of tongue in teeth that made his hearts pound. 

“’Cos I’ve got you, now.”

He firmly told himself that she didn’t mean it like that, that she didn’t want him that way and tried to keep his tone light.

“What, you’re sayin’ I scare off the pretty boys? Didn’t work with that weasel Adam, did it?”

Rose smiled and tugged his hand out of his pocket, threading her fingers through his. In spite of himself, his fingers tightened about hers and he smiled, utterly content.

“Dunno, you _are_ pretty scary when you’re a mood,” she grinned. “’N specially before you’ve had your tea. Right grump, you are.”

“Oi! Who you calling grumpy, then?” He pasted a look of mock affront on his face, all the while basking in the warmth of her smile. He still couldn’t believe that the universe had given him this astounding creature. She was sunshine and light and warmth and love- all those things he’d thought he’d never find again, all those things he believed he no longer deserved.

She was his salvation, even if she never knew it, even if she never felt the same way for him that he felt for her. What she gave him was more than enough for him and he cherished it. 

She grinned at him and swung their hands as they walked. “Jack says it’s sexual frustration.”

He rolled his eyes at the thought of their erstwhile companion, who was currently off doing unspeakable things on a pleasure planet in the Koile system.

“Jack thinks burnt toast is the result of sexual frustration. Don’t know that I’d be paying too much attention to what he says.”

Rose grinned. “Too bad he’s not here now. He’d be right in his element, romancing some poor soul and charmin’ them right out of their knickers.”

The Doctor snorted. “Probably good thing he’s not here, then. Don’t feel like rescuing him from some angry spouse.”

She giggled, the sound filling him with warmth. “He’d probably ask ‘em to join in!”

Shaking his head, he tugged her down another street. They were almost there- just another street or two, if he remembered correctly.

Rose kicked at something on the ground and rolled her eyes. Peering at it, he saw that it was an empty heart-shaped box.

He had to try to refrain from rolling his own eyes. Daft things, these humans, sometimes. What did a glorified box have to do with love?

Still, he _was_ still shocked to realise just how much Rose resented the holiday. And even more so to realise that she didn’t believe in romance at all. His own cynicism he could understand- he was a broken old Time Lord that even his own people had avoided, when they’d been around. 

But Rose? She was young and fresh and _golden_. She deserved better than world-weary cynicism and arbitrary social prejudice.

“You really hate this Valentine’s business that much?” he couldn’t help but ask.

She shrugged. “S’ not that I hate it, ‘s just it seems so fake. When I worked at Henrik’s, it was always the same- people, mostly blokes, rushin’ in at the last minute getting’ stuff ‘cos they _had_ to, ‘cos it was Valentine’s Day. Wouldn’t see ‘em in there with their girlfriends or whatever any other day.”

“Alright, so that’s a bit put on. But what if it wasn’t?” he pressed, not entirely sure why he was asking. “What would you say then?

She cocked an eyebrow. “I dunno, not likely to happen is it? All the time we’ve been travelin’ together and an’ this is the first time we’ve even landed on Valentine’s Day.”

He sighed impatiently, tugging at his ear as they waited for closing time in a small alley just behind Harrods. “Forget Valentine’s Day. Say it was another day, some ordinary day, and some poor, smitten sod decided he wanted to give you flowers?”

“What, like that stupid arse on Kilopa?” She stared at him in disbelief. “Doctor, he was trying to _buy me_ with those flowers, an’ I had to threaten to cut off his bollocks before he’d back off!”

“Not like that!” He suppressed a growl at the thought of that idiot. “I mean, if someone gave them to you because they wanted to, with no ulterior motive.”

Rose was silent for a moment, and he feared that he’d pushed too far somehow. But then she looked at him, and the wistful look her eyes winded him, stealing his words. 

“It’d be….nice to have someone who thinks you’re special, that wants to give you the most beautiful thing they can find.” she said quietly. “I’ve always loved flowers, an yeah, it’s nice to think that you’re special enough that a bloke wants to make an effort- not ‘cause they have to, but ‘cause they _want_ to. ‘Cause you’re _worth_ that.” Then she shrugged, seeming to snap out of it. “But blokes don’t do that with people like me, Doctor. Not in real life.”

He exhaled, hating that she’d been taught to think so meanly of herself. He was just opening his mouth to tell her what he thought of her, and damn the consequences, when she spoke again.

“But like I said before, it doesn’t really matter anymore.." 

“Why…why not?” he managed, swallowing past the heavy feelings in his throat.

The smile she gave him nearly knocked him to his knees. “Because now I have you,” she said again.

He swallowed and managed to cock an eyebrow inquisitively.

She squeezed his fingers. “You’ve always treated me like I’m… I’m somebody. Like I can do things. You don’t treat me like I’m just some stupid chav. No one’s ever done that before. So the other stuff?” She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, ‘cos I’ve got you.”

By Rassilon’s hairy left toe, it sounded as though she were saying…She’d actually said…

For once in his life, he was speechless.

Was she saying….She _couldn’t_ be saying….

He must have mistaken her meaning. She was probably just grateful, he told himself. She probably meant that she was glad she had him as a friend, a teacher….

But the _way_ she’d said it…

_“That other stuff doesn’t matter. ‘Cos now I’ve got you…”_

All this time, he’d been so sure that she’d be horrified if he showed more than a friendly interest in her, that she’d run if he got too close. And now…now he wasn’t so sure.

One thing was for certain though- whether or not she returned his feelings, he’d never allow her to think she was anything less than magnificent.

Seeing that she was embarrassed, he squeezed her hand tightly in his,

“Rose.” He swallowed, his blue eyes burning into hers, willing her to understand just how much he…just how much he _esteemed_ her. How much he loved her. “You’re not _just_ anything. You…you’re fantastic.”

She blushed. Somewhere in the back of his turbulent mind, he registered that it made her look even lovelier.

“’S nice of you to say that,” she said quietly. “But let’s be real Doctor- to most people, I’m just a chav off a council estate. No brains, no money- nobody important. You could have _anyone_ as your companion- a king or queen, some billionaire, or a genius professor. But instead you’ve got me. You _chose_ me.” She blinked furiously, her eyes glistening with tears. One or two ran down her face in spite of her efforts and his hearts clenched.

He clutched her hand more tightly with his right hand and wiped away her tears tightly with his left. “Who said you’re not important?”

She smiled at the words he’d said in a church so long ago but he wouldn’t let her downplay what he was saying now. He wouldn’t let her sweep his words aside.

“I mean it Rose.” He cupped her cheek in his hand. “There’s no such thing as a nobody. You’re not a nobody. You…you’re like no one I’ve ever met, and you’re so much more than you think you are. I’m….” He swallowed. “ _I’m_ lucky to have _you_.”

She blushed furiously. “Doctor…”

“I mean it, Rose,” he insisted, tamping down the urge to confess his feelings here and now. This wasn’t the time or place. “There’s so much to admire about you.” 

She swallowed, eyes glistening, and said nothing.

“Just….just don’t sell yourself short.” He dropped his hand from her face and with a smile turned towards Harrods. “It’ll be closed in a few minutes and we can sneak in.”

“Yeah,” she whispered, wiping at her face. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face him. “Right.’

Minutes later, they were sneaking into the deserted building, and Rose thought that was the end of it.

The Doctor knew better, but he was content to bide his time.

This was going to take very careful handling.

+++++++++

A week later, on an ordinary day of no significance, Rose found a bouquet of her favourite Eloapian mountain lilies on her bed. 

The accompanying letter made her heart pound. It simply said:

_Because I want to._


End file.
